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A review by gerhard
Descent by Ken MacLeod
4.0
Thoughtful, slow-burning and filled with a deeply-felt and ultimately transcendent humanism, this is the sort of SF novel that diehard genre fans go nuts for, but which is equally likely to leave non-fans rather nonplussed.
Non-fans will also be wrong-footed by the rather clumsy attempt of the publisher to market this as a UFO conspiracy thriller. Well, it is, but it ain’t. You know, one of those...
Along with China Mieville and Kim Stanley Robinson, Ken MacLeod is one of the most politically astute SF writers at work in the field today. This is perhaps MacLeod’s most quiet and subtle taken on Big Brother to date. And all written in a rather thick Scots accent that takes some getting used to.
A key comment is made quite late in the book: “The discretion of the watcher versus the privacy of the watched was just another arms race; this one, I could see, would run and run.”
Disturbingly, nothing that MacLeod writes about here in terms of technology or politics seems that unlikely or even that far-fetched. Is our increasingly inter-connected, virtual world playing into the hand of totalitarian conglomerates with their fingers hoveringly menacingly on the ‘off’ switch?
MacLeod says no, and argues that ultimately it is our responsibility to ensure this does not happen, in our lifetime or in that of our descendants:
“You must rely on reason and science,” she said, “and be guided by a likewise rational ethic of human concern. You must do your utmost as individuals to improve your understanding, ability and compassion. As a species, you must maintain and extend your presence in space, and from that vantage do what you can to repair the Earth. Whether or not you succeed, you must never give up.”
This is perhaps the closest that MacLeod has come to formulating a personal manifesto, a sort of literary bumper sticker that can be added onto the engine of genre. A superbly reflective, low-key and effective novel by a true master at the top his game.
Non-fans will also be wrong-footed by the rather clumsy attempt of the publisher to market this as a UFO conspiracy thriller. Well, it is, but it ain’t. You know, one of those...
Along with China Mieville and Kim Stanley Robinson, Ken MacLeod is one of the most politically astute SF writers at work in the field today. This is perhaps MacLeod’s most quiet and subtle taken on Big Brother to date. And all written in a rather thick Scots accent that takes some getting used to.
A key comment is made quite late in the book: “The discretion of the watcher versus the privacy of the watched was just another arms race; this one, I could see, would run and run.”
Disturbingly, nothing that MacLeod writes about here in terms of technology or politics seems that unlikely or even that far-fetched. Is our increasingly inter-connected, virtual world playing into the hand of totalitarian conglomerates with their fingers hoveringly menacingly on the ‘off’ switch?
MacLeod says no, and argues that ultimately it is our responsibility to ensure this does not happen, in our lifetime or in that of our descendants:
“You must rely on reason and science,” she said, “and be guided by a likewise rational ethic of human concern. You must do your utmost as individuals to improve your understanding, ability and compassion. As a species, you must maintain and extend your presence in space, and from that vantage do what you can to repair the Earth. Whether or not you succeed, you must never give up.”
This is perhaps the closest that MacLeod has come to formulating a personal manifesto, a sort of literary bumper sticker that can be added onto the engine of genre. A superbly reflective, low-key and effective novel by a true master at the top his game.